Autonomous Tracking and Sampling of the Deep Chlorophyll Maximum Layer in an Open-Ocean Eddy by a Long-Range Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Phytoplankton communities residing in the open ocean, the largest habitat on Earth, play a key role in global primary production. Through their influence on nutrient supply to the euphotic zone, open-ocean eddies impact the magnitude of primary production and its spatial and temporal distributions....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE journal of oceanic engineering 2020-10, Vol.45 (4), p.1308-1321
Main Authors: Zhang, Yanwu, Kieft, Brian, Hobson, Brett W., Ryan, John P., Barone, Benedetto, Preston, Christina M., Roman, Brent, Raanan, Ben-Yair, Marin III, Roman, O'Reilly, Thomas C., Rueda, Carlos A., Pargett, Douglas, Yamahara, Kevan M., Poulos, Steve, Romano, Anna, Foreman, Gabe, Ramm, Hans, Wilson, Samuel T., DeLong, Edward F., Karl, David M., Birch, James M., Bellingham, James G., Scholin, Christopher A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)
Autonomous underwater vehicles
Chlorophyll
Chlorophylls
Ecological effects
Ecology
Ecosystems
Eddies
eddy
Eddy currents
Environmental Sample Processor (ESP)
Euphotic zone
Locking
Mapping
Marine ecology
Marine ecosystems
Microorganisms
Microprocessors
Nutrient cycles
Ocean circulation
Oceanic eddies
Physics
Phytoplankton
Primary production
Sampling
Sampling methods
Sensors
Surface vehicles
Surfacing
Temporal variations
tracking
Underwater vehicles
Vertical orientation
Water circulation
Water column
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Summary:Phytoplankton communities residing in the open ocean, the largest habitat on Earth, play a key role in global primary production. Through their influence on nutrient supply to the euphotic zone, open-ocean eddies impact the magnitude of primary production and its spatial and temporal distributions. It is important to gain a deeper understanding of the microbial ecology of marine ecosystems under the influence of eddy physics with the aid of advanced technologies. In March and April 2018, we deployed autonomous underwater and surface vehicles in a cyclonic eddy in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre to investigate the variability of the microbial community in the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM) layer. One long-range autonomous underwater vehicle (LRAUV) carrying a third-generation Environmental Sample Processor (3G-ESP) autonomously tracked and sampled the DCM layer for four days without surfacing. The sampling LRAUV's vertical position in the DCM layer was maintained by locking onto the isotherm corresponding to the chlorophyll peak. The vehicle ran on tight circles while drifting with the eddy current. This mode of operation enabled a quasi-Lagrangian time series focused on sampling the temporal variation of the DCM population. A companion LRAUV surveyed a cylindrical volume around the sampling LRAUV to monitor spatial and temporal variation in contextual water column properties. The simultaneous sampling and mapping enabled observation of DCM microbial community in its natural frame of reference.
ISSN:0364-9059
1558-1691
DOI:10.1109/JOE.2019.2920217